100 mini stadia planned for students in Tamil Nadu

The proposed mini stadia will be having training coaches and required latest sports materials, whichcould be utilised by the students studying from primary to higher secondary level.

A senior official from the Education Department told DT Next on Tuesday that even existing stadia will also be renovated. “Establishing mini stadia for students will be implemented with the help of the Centre,” he added.

The official said competitions will be conducted by the School Education Department every year in 26 sporting disciplines for students from Classes 6 to 12 in the age group of 11 to 17 years.

“Most of the competition will be held in the mini stadia,” he said adding “the government will sanction a sum of Rs 10 crore every year as recurring grant for the conduct of competitions at various levels.”

Stating that each stadium will have coaches in different sports disciplines according to the requirement, he said “purchase of new equipment will also be carried out once the construction of stadium is over.”

According to the official, apart from the sports activities, the stadia will also have regular Yoga classes for the students, which ultimately help in channelising the energy of children towards improving learning outcomes.

He said every year sportsaward will be given to outstanding students studying in Classes 10 to 12 in government and government aided schools.

“Since Tamil Nadu has been on the vanguard of chess tournaments in the country, chess will also be encouraged to primarily enhance the reasoning ability of the students as a part of sports activities,” he said adding chess competition will be conducted regularly in different categories for the age group between 7 and 17 from the school level to the state level.